14/11/2008

For a state of the size of Madhya Pradesh, that has a population of 6 crore, there are hardly any fortnightly or weekly papers. This is more surprising because almost the entire state speaks a single language but the periodicals fail to survive for long.

Now with elections in sight, veteran journalist Awadhesh Bajaj has launched the newsaper Bichhu dot Com. Almost a year back he had started the website of the same name. Bajaj is a seasoned journalist who has edited many papers and is capable of resisting political and bureaucratic pressures but bringing out a regular paper is no easy task.

Sometime back the MBD group took out a weekly paper that later became a magazine but failed to survive. The first issue published on high quality glazed paper (all papers start with glazed ones and after a few issues go to recycled paper).

The current newspaper issue has hard-hitting news stories and predicts that the state will have a hung Assembly. It gives nearly 105 seats of BJP, 85-90 to Congress and 17 to BSP. The gossip and semi-nude photographs of models are the other attraction of this paper. The newspaper is priced at Rs 5.

Avadhesh Bajaj is a seasoned journalist but is known for his temperament. Time will tell if the paper completes even a year, given the history of such publications in Madhya Pradesh. Still, best wishes to Bajaj and Bichhu.com team for the success of the newspaper.

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